Kit Armstrong: Bach´s Goldberg Variations and its predecessors

When Kit Armstrong was only 14, he overcame his mentor Alfred Brendel’s reluctance to take on pupils. Said Brendel: “He played so beautifully that I thought to myself, ‘I have to make time for him.’ It was a performance that really led you from the first to the last note.” Soon Armstrong was winning international prizes both as pianist and as composer and was appearing as soloist at some of the world’s foremost venues. At the Concertgebouw, Armstrong mesmerized his audience with Bach’s monumental Goldberg Variations – preceded by earlier polyphonic variation masterpieces by William Byrd, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck and John Bull. “Enlightening and exhilarating.” (Revierpassagen). “Armstrong’s phenomenal recital was so exceptional that every attempt to describe it falls short.” (NRC)